Influence of Corner Shear Layers in Rotating Flows

Abstract

The velocity field induced in a liquid confined between two coaxial rotating disks of finite radius and contained between two annular disks, rotating at different angular velocities, provides a simple example for both theoretical and experimental study of free shear layers in rotating flows. Also, the differential rotation of the disks, from the rest of the configuration, is of interest in its own right in the modeling of large scale wind‐driven ocean circulation. In the case of antisymmetrically rotating disks, the differences between the theoretical and experimental axial velocity profiles are several times greater than experimental errors. In this paper, without using the equivalent boundary conditions on the effective, flux, the full boundary value problem is solved by a correct treatment of the corner region. This approach leads to a better agreement between the theory and observations of profiles of axial velocity in free shear layers.